WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, Congress and industry advisors are working to map out an economic stimulus package that will include some funding for healthcare and healthcare IT, according to a Capitol Hill source.

Justin Barnes, vice president of marketing and government affairs for Greenway Medical Technologies, is part of a group that will meet with Congress and the Obama transition team early next week to advise them on small business and healthcare IT issues. Barnes said he doesn't know the dollar amounts involved, but feels sure healthcare IT will be a cornerstone of an Obama stimulus package.

The Obama transition team and Congress are aiming to draft a passable bill before the president-elect takes office, to speed passage after he is sworn in, Barnes said.

During his campaign, Obama promised $10 billion a year for five years toward healthcare IT. Barnes, who is chairman of the Electronic Health Record Association, said it will take the next few weeks to bring a package together. He said he will advise Congress and the Obama transition team to provide incentives in the stimulus package to help encourage point-of-care providers to adopt healthcare IT.

The American College of Physicians, a national organization of 126,000 internal medicine physicians, wrote a letter Wednesday to Health and Human Services Secretary-designee Tom Daschle to provide physicians with more money and assistance with healthcare information technology.